AdWords Case Study

Updated March 6, 2025

Moving a PPC Account Into a Positive ROI

This AdWords Case Study summarizes the work we completed for a client headquartered in Northern California. They provide online training courses across the U.S. targeted to a young audience. Their competition routinely outbids them on keywords. Amidst intense pressure to further discount prices and guarantee results (passing the online course to receive a certificate), our client’s AdWords account was spending more than it was earning. It turned out their account had been set-up many years ago and was running without active management. Running at a consistent negative ROI (return on investment), the account needed to be overhauled quickly to produce results.

Snapshot Before Our Work Together

• AdWords account was over eight years old actively spending $20,000 a month on digital ads.
• Tracking incorrectly set up as key pieces of data were missing from reports.
• The ad groups used as many relevant keywords as possible, including bidding wars on poorly-performing search terms.
• Campaigns were focused on Cost Per Clicks (CPC) rather than conversions and actual business booked.
• The account was earning a negative ROI and was losing ~ $75 per account conversion.

An AdWords Case Study Results

• Cleaned up the account ad group structure to emphasize relevant and high-performance keywords.
• Created tighter correlation between specific keywords and their landing pages to improve relevancy and conversion.
• Switched strategy from CPC to Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), managing the account to achieve high conversion performance rather than quantity of clicks.
• Implemented a robust and low-cost tracking system to measure everything on the account.
• Taught the business owner how to monitor and measure their account so they could take action more quickly
• Reduced their CPA from $90+ to $15 per customer acquisition.
• Produced a positive ROI within 4 months, optimizing the ad spend so it generated a sustainable income stream.

A Certified Google Partner & UC Berkeley Extension Instructors

Most likely your business can’t afford to waste marketing dollars. By working with Spectrum, you benefit from working with a certified Google Partner and instructors at UC Berkeley Extension. What does that mean for you?

• Directly access a professional team that’s been tested on their AdWords knowledge and experience
• Partner with marketers who understand the entire online sales process including Web design and SEO
• Ensure your account is actively managed for performance
• Receive guidance on implementing systems that track accurate results
• Enjoy the option of learning AdWords management including analytics reporting